Butterflies, Bugs and Beautiful New Friends

July 7th

Today started with a visit to the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster. The Butterfly Pavilion held so many incredible creatures…beautiful butterflies, tarantulas, spiders, bugs of all kinds, starfish, and much more. We were told the Wings of Tropics area had over 1,200 butterflies fluttering, flitting, and flying around. What a beautiful scene it was to see the children’s faces as a butterfly landed on their shoulder. It was amazing to see their eyes as they searched for butterflies and other creatures. One of my favorite moments, was watching Vlad accompanied by my sister, Stephanie eagerly wait in line at the chance to hold Rosie, their friendly Chilean Rose Hair tarantula. Both Anna and I could not see anything friendly about Rosie.

As I watched the children’s faces I was struck by the symbolism. Some people say that when a butterfly lands on you it means good luck. My thoughts wondered to what blessing would come to these children after camp. Some cultures view Butterflies as a symbol of rebirth into a new life after being inside a cocoon for a period of time. I was praying that this would be a time of rebirth for many of these children that we would see a new life and new hope after camp.

I want to say a special thank you to Choice City Christian Camp from Fort Collins. We really enjoyed touring around the Pavilion and the Nature Tour with Choice City Christian Camp. Thank you Choice City Christian Camp for allowing us to join your group on this journey. We truly enjoyed spending time with all of you. A fun moment was listening to Oksana teach some of the Choice City crew how to count in Russian. I learned that the Russian word for “butterfly”, бабочка (bábochka), also means “bow tie”.

Our evening was graciously hosted by South Gate Church. The children enjoyed a wonderful dinner of Lasagna, bread, cookies and more. I left feeling that we had made some new friends. We really enjoyed chatting, basketball, foosball, playing with toys, and much more. The evening ended with many group pictures and hugs. It was a very special time of fellowship. Thank you so much South Gate Church for opening your church and your hearts to us.

– Brenda Laughlin

One Response to “Butterflies, Bugs and Beautiful New Friends”

1. Butterfly Pavilion says:

   July 9, 2010 at 10:09 am

   Thank you so very much for sharing your story and picture with us! We are so glad to hear that you enjoy the Butterfly Pavilion and all the kids did as well. We thank you for your patronage!